Section 2-3: Planned Cities on the Indus

Bold:
subcontinent- a landmass that includes India, Pakistan and Banggladesh.
monsoons- seasonal winds thy control the climate.
Harappan civilization- Indus Valley civilization.

Key Events: we still can't decipher their writing system.

Key People: none

Setting The Stage:
- a civilizationg rose around 2,500 B.C. and historians know less about this civilization then the the ones in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The language of this civilization has still not been translated.

The Geopraphy of the Indian Subcantinent:
- India Pakistan and Bangladesh are often referee to as a subcontinent because the Hindu Kust, Karakorum and Himalayan mountain ranges separate it from the rest of Asia.

Rivers, Mountains, and Plains:
- tall mountains helped protect the Indus Valley from invasion. They mountains fairest a pertile plain made by two rivers. The Indus and Ganges river are responsible for this.
- the Ingus as Ganges and land make up a 1,700 miles in Asia. The rivers care silt that is very rich and great for farming.
- the end of the subcontiner to the south is a peninsula that has a high plateau in the center that us surrounded by rivers.

Moonsoons:
- from October to February, monsoons bring dry air across the country. In the middle of June through October the winds change to rains clouds. With all the rain flooding is very common. But in summer the lack of water can destroy farmers crops.

Envirometal Changes:
- the people who live in the Indus Valley faced similar problems as the people in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
- the tiers flooded supplying silt to the farmers, but these floods were unpredictable. Sometimes the rivers would change course, also the dry ad wet seasons were unpredictable so planning was near impossible.

Civilization Emerges on the Indus:
- historians know less about this civilizations compare to the other civilizations. We still have figured out their system of writing. We have found a lot of evidence from archaeological digs. Someone the floods washed away a lot of the acient civilization.

Earliest Arrivals:
- we aren't sure how the settlements started. Maybe it was people from Africa. We have proof of domesticated sheep and goats.

Planned Cities:
- the people living in the Indus Valley started building after the Egyptians. Their cities were made of mud bricks, strong leaves or earthen walls. We have foun over 100 of these settlements. The settlements were even sometime risen to protect then from floodwaters.
- they planned their cities instea of just winging it. They were a collection of buildings connected by winding streets. Their bricks were better then those used in Mesopotamia.
- plumbing was also used and planned by the people living in the Indus Valley. This planning shows that the India people op ably had a storng central government.

Harapan Planning:
- The cities were built on mud brick platforms to protect it from flooding. The citie was protected by a thick brick wall was built around it. It was Pete tip for the royal family and also served as a temple.
- the houses varied in size an so did the streets. Houses had bathrooms and waste water flowers out to the street to sewage pits.

Harappan Culture:
- culture was based on agriculture.

Language:
- they developed a writing language, that is nearly impossible to decipher. There are about 400 symbols that make up the language.

Culture:
- many toy were found for kids an little to no weapons were found suggest fighting was limited.
- picture of animal suggests animals were important to their culture.

Role of Religion:
- the rulers are thought to have had ties to religion. No temple had been found. Worship of the bull ad pray for safe floods and good harvests.

Trade:
- they were a part of a huge trade line.
- the river connected to the sea making trade to further places easier.

Indus Valley Culture Ends:
- the cities slowly decaded.
- there was an earth that was thought to happen. Apparently some cities survived.
- Aryans came and it has been though that they infuenced the Harappans.